"Well, at least he's locked in. I guess they know we're coming. Might as well go and cast a light spell on this magic darkness. Let's get this over with. Oh, and if someone wants to shoot the possessed demon-boy, that's fine with me!"

Anthony shudders. "Let's get out of here. Jack lead the way."

If Jack's light-on-a-rock fails, Anthony will cast a Light spell into the darkness to try to counter-act it.

In reply to Castle Keeper (msg # 275):

Is the demon puppet locked in the same cage as all the other children?

Dreya throws an uncertain look toward the fighter. "But...but...what if he can be saved? Like the boy is trapped in his own body?" At that thought, a shudder rushes through her. Being trapped in a cage is one thing, but being trapped on ones own body? Yeesh.

Anthony raises his hand. "Let's not be hasty about killing the boy. Dreya is right--perhaps we can find a way to save the boy who hosts the demon. In the mean time, does everyone else agree that I should cast my light spell into the darkness?"

In reply to Cole Hiller (msg # 279):

The demon puppet is locked in a cage with one other child (the one the boy threatened to smash with a rock).  The boy (we'll call him Demon Puppet for the time being) has not shown any interest in the little girl since he was put to sleep.  Yet.

Assuming no objections, Anthony casts a spell of light into the darkness, hoping to make it go away.

"So are we just going to leave the demon marionette hear to dangle and kill the small girl? I'm incredibly against leaving something that unpredictable behind us and would rather find some solution to this before we leave rather Elwood excersizes the demon or we remove the child from the realm of the living. Leaving him in there with the girl will more than likely get her killed but more importantly I feel like leaving him here will pose a threat to us in the not so distant future. If none of you have the stomach then leave the room and i'll depose of it." Seline states with a steel in her voice

Anthony sighs. "So uncivilized. Dreya, it appears that either we take the demon-possessed child with us or we kill him."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:54, Sat 15 July 2017.

Jack walks over to stand in front of the cage, puts away his axe and draws his short bow. Without emotion he nocks an arrow and attempts to shoot the troublesome boy at point blank range through the cage.

OOC: If the first arrow doesn't do the trick, Jack will fire a few more until the boy stops moving.

When the deed is done he replaces his bow and once again draws the axe, saying nothing. Heading back toward the door, he motions Anthony to cast his light spell as the group prepares to move on.

OOC: Party leader decision. Kill the boy, cast light into the next room, and head on in.

Contained rage clouds the Ranger's features.  Cole stands beside Jack, his own bow raised to shoot the demon puppet as well until the threat to the little girl is no more.

The matter settled, Anthony casts his light spell into the dark room as he intended to before.

"Dreya, I'm not too sure if there was any way to save the boy, or at least, it's far past my abilities.  To be truthful, I don't even know if there was a boy in there to save.  As sickening as it may seem, Jack and Cole took the only course of action to protect the other children.  Let's focus instead on putting an end to this evil to prevent it from ever happening again.  We should also be wary of any other healthy looking 'children' that we come across.  We need to join the others."

"What if the girl in there was orchestrating it all along?????" Dreya clutches her bow tighter.

Elwood stares at Dreya, mouth agape, trying to follow her logic, and realizes, once again, that is a dangerous path to go down.  He offers a weak smile.  "We should join the others", and gets in his usual spot at the rear.

After Anthony casts light Seline will take up the front and start making her way into the room slowly checking for traps, hidden doors and listening for movement in front of the party.

Jack and Cole pepper the boy with arrows until he goes completely limp and drops to the floor on top of a pool of his own blood.  He looks dead.  Probably.  He's not moving or anything.

I'm not entirely clear on the light spell plan.  This room has a door on the north wall.  Outside the door is a corridor stretching into darkness both to the left and the right.  Dreya cast light on a rock and chucked it down the corridor to the right.  Before the light vanished, it illuminated a doorway on the north (left) side of the hallway (i.e., you look down the corridor to the right and partway down the hallway on the left hand side is a doorway).  That area of the hallway is again shrouded in darkness so that you cannot see as far as the door.  You do not currently face a room or chamber that you could use a light spell on; you face a darkened hallway stretching to the left (west) and to the right (east).

Anthony stops and thinks for a long moment. He bends down and consults his spellbook and then straightens up.

"My friends, I think my plan as constituted will not work as I suspected. If that is what I think it is--an area of magical darkness to the east--then my simple light cantrip will not be effective in dispelling it. It would require more powerful magic than I have available.

"Unless there is another possibility--that the rock fell into a pit or some space that would conceal its light. In either case, it seems risky to go to the right.

"If we want to face the risk, we need to head to the east probing with a pole or the like and try the door along the wall. Alternatively, we could explore to the west and see if it be any more inviting."

The plan was to cast light into the darkened hallway to the right. The light-imbued pebble lit up that area before. If light spell is unable to be cast into an area, then just cast it on an object we can carry and proceed in the direction of the previously tossed pebble.

Anthony shakes his head. "Not so simple as that. IF the area is darkened magically, any light spell we cast will be blotted out by the magical darkness. More powerful magic cancels weaker magic. And at five gold pieces per casting, I would rather not waste the money needlessly. "

"Sometimes the more mundane solutions are the best - I have 4 torches we can use.  I'll light a torch, then toss it down that corridor (pointing towards the right hallway).  If it disappears, I can reverse the magical darkness. I wouldn't want to head down the other direction knowing something is magically hidden in back of me."

Elwood lights one of his torches, then tosses it gently down the right hallway, aiming past the point where the light imbued stone disappeared.  If it is obvious that the torch passed into a magically darkened area, then Elwood will cast Daylight (reverse of Darkness) in that area.

Anthony nods, an appreciative smile on his young, bearded face. "A sound plan. Let's see how it goes!"

In reply to Elwood (msg # 297):

Do you want to cast it into an area or on an object you take with you as Jack proposed?  The spell can be cast either way.  If the spell is effective, casting it on a specific area might only illuminate that area whereas casting it on an object might allow you to be able to see wherever you go.

In reply to Castle Keeper (msg # 299):

Elwood will cast it on the front of his shield.

OOC:  To be clear, I'm assuming it's obvious that the area is magically darkened, correct?  I just don't want to waste a spell.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:50, Tue 18 July 2017.

Cole nods at the Clerics ingenuity taking a torch if offered and follows his companions wherever they may lead.